<p>What do you guys think are the worst cities/neighborhoods for colleges to be in and why? (unsafe, boring, etc.) In other words, what colleges do you believe are in the worst places?</p>
<p>Texas A & M
Texas Tech
Bowling Green
UConn</p>
<p>UMD, violent city i've been told</p>
<p>University of Detroit-Mercy (unsafe).</p>
<p>Nice arguments always erupt in discussions of the safety of the neighborhoods where U of Chicago, USCal, Penn, Yale, and Columbia are. Those in favor are sure to say "they are in cities, so what do you expect, you pampered suburban racist?" and "there is a clearly defined no-mans-land extending about 20 feet beyond the campus boundary which is patrolled by the university's 5000-member security police crew, so you are ok as long as you are careful, don't walk around alone, don't go out late at night, wear an NRA t-shirt," etc.</p>
<p>Stanford - Palo Alto: expensive, gentrified, etc. not to mention excessively boring. Doesn't cater to college students in the slightest. (The average home price is ~$1.6 million, which is insane.)</p>
<p>Stanford has, actually, acknowledged that its location is a problem in getting students to matriculate. There was an interesting article on it, which I'll post if I can find it.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Those in favor are sure to say "they are in cities, so what do you expect, you pampered suburban racist?" and "there is a clearly defined no-mans-land extending about 20 feet beyond the campus boundary which is patrolled by the university's 5000-member security police crew, so you are ok as long as you are careful, don't walk around alone, don't go out late at night, wear an NRA t-shirt," etc.
[/quote]
So you're saying it's good to wear an NRA t-shirt or not good?</p>
<p>The points the defenders of those neighborhoods always seem to make is that they aren't dangerous, as long as you follow precautions a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, etc. In other words, they seem to defeat their own positions (that those neighborhoods are safe) with the weight of the guidelines which must be followed in order for them to BE safe. The NRA t-shirt was just a (apparently unsuccessful) comic example of the extreme guidelines these folks say must be followed.</p>
<p>Can't remember if the town Oberlin is in has a name, but there is NOTHING there.</p>
<p>Binghamton NY. So depressing</p>
<p>Some people seem to bash Philly and UPenn in turn for high crime rates.
I don't know, I loved Philadelphia when I visited.</p>
<p>Durham, only because it looked really, really boring when I was at Duke for summer camps.</p>
<p>i don't really think that Texas A&M is that bad. sure it's no Austin, but all the students i know there absolutely love college station (granted i only know like 10 kids that go to the school)</p>
<p>Stanford. Palo Alto is complete ****.
USC. Dangerous</p>
<p>I got mugged once in Philadelphia.. sooo.. yeah.. probably just me though :(</p>
<p>Philly can be pretty dangerous. There are definitely cons and pros to living in a city- I'd rather be there than out in the middle of nowhere, but that's the type of decision that people have to make for themselves.</p>
<p>College Station (Texas A&M) ain't that great, but I concur that the folks love it there anyway. But in comparison to College Station, Austin (UT) is Shangri-la. </p>
<p>Downtown Durham is definitely NOT a garden spot, but I doubt Duke students find their way there very often. </p>
<p>For Philadelphia area, it depends. Out in Bryn Mawr, it's awfully nice, but in West Philly (U Penn) or North Philly (Temple), it can get sketchy, quickly. Walk a few blocks (or less) in the wrong direction and.....</p>
<p>Maryland's not violent. It houses a somewhat affluent and careless population within a car or bus drive from poorer areas. That describes most universities.
Most of Maryland's violence involving Maryland students is among fellow students at last call.
I've felt more uncomfortable walking about Loyola Chicago at dusk than Maryland at midnight.</p>
<p>This thread reminds me of a joke about college crime in Philadelphia. When something bad happens near Penn and Drexel's campuses, it always happens on Drexel's property.</p>
<p>I personally did not like UPenn or Phily when I visited. I saw so many sketchy people during broad daylight and my dad even saw what looked like drug dealing. What's so unfortunate is that some frosh need to live in the highrises which aren't right in the middle of the green, pretty part of campus like the quad is, and housing is not guaranteed so most students have to get apartments...University City is not so great a few blocks away from campus (where the apartments often are) so I would never want to go to UPenn even though I felt safe during the day when in the middle of campus</p>
<p>I love the city of Milwaukee which has beautiful areas and sights such as the famous art museum, Pfister Hotel, the Safe House, etc. but the locations of both UW Milwaukee and Marquette are not that safe. Lots of hobos walking around, robberies, drugs, etc. </p>
<p>I agree Palo Alto and the like are not ideal, but I'd rather be somewhere gentrified and safe than in the slums or sketchy parts of a big city. Stanford's so big and has so much right on campus, so I wouldn't even venture out into Palo Alto that much anyways</p>
<p>College Park is definitely not as violent as a previous poster said, as I've grown up around that area (20-30 min away) and visited the campus many times. Obviously be smart and take care of yourself--don't be stupid and decide to take walks outside at 3 AM.</p>
<p>I'd say Baltimore is pretty dangerous up where JHU is. And of course, UChicago gets a terrible rep for being in a terrible part of Chicago. With all of these places, just exercise caution and just normal common sense and you won't get mugged. :)</p>
<p>UMD College Park is no more dangerous than any other college, IMO. Truth is, none of us are ever really "safe" anywhere. Anything can happen so just be as careful as possible but live your life and go to school wherever you want.</p>